Notice of release
Montreal, February 27, 2024 – Today, the Observatoire de la culture et des communications of the Institut de la statistique du Québec is releasing an overview of Les professions de la culture et des communications au Québec en 2021. the cultural and communications occupations in Quebec in 2021. This overview, based on Statistics Canada census data, shows that the number of people working in this sector has risen significantly in recent years. It is not yet possible to use the analysis to measure the pandemic’s effects on cultural employment.
Highlights
- Between 2016 and 2021, the number of people working in culture and communications rose by 19%. In comparison, the overall workforce in Quebec grew by 5% over the same period.
- In 2021, the proportion of women in cultural occupations was 54%, five percentage points higher than it was 25 years ago.
- The average employment income of the 174,000 culture and communications workers reached $47,674 in 2020—a 14% increase in five years.
- In 2021, 30% of cultural workers were self-employed, a much higher proportion compared to the total workforce (12%).
A young but aging workforce
Among people working in the cultural sector, 63% are under 45, a higher proportion than in the total workforce (57%). This percentage was 73% 25 years ago, which means that the workforce in this sector is aging.
Montreal region differs when it comes to language of work
67% of cultural workers reside in the Montreal CMA, compared to 52% for the entire Quebec workforce.
The proportion of cultural workers whose most used language at work is French declined by 4% between 2016 (66%) and 2021 (62%) in the Montreal CMA and by 1% in the rest of Quebec (from 84% to 83%).
In the province of Quebec, 69% of cultural workers said that French was the language they most used at work in 2021 (72% in 2016), in contrast with the total workforce where the proportion was 79%.